Tag Archive: mayor

Pictured here voting with his wife, in 1950 Mayor Vincent Impellitteri, the 99th Mayor of NYC, was dumped by Democratic bosses and ran on his own ballot line, The Experience Party. Undaunted, Mr. Impellitteri made history becoming the first mayor of greater New York elected without the support of a major party. A true insurgent. Source: Corbis

An article from The Staten Island Advance is already speculating which democratic primary challengers may rise to the occasion and run for Mayor in 2021, thus proving it’s never too early to think ahead.

Among those suggested: Melinda Katz, Eric Adams, and a few more…

[From SIlive.com] STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – Democrat Bill de Blasio has been mayor for just over two months.

But that hasn’t stopped speculation about who could run for City Hall in 2021, when de Blasio would be term-limited out of office.

Further proof that campaign season never really ends and that it’s never too early to start prognosticating about any future election.

The 2021 caravan made a bit of a stop on Staten Island last week, when some of the potential mayoral candidates marched in the borough’s St. Patrick’s Parade, and made the requisite stop at the pre-parade festivities at Jody’s Club Forest in West Brighton.

The three maybe contenders in attendance were Public Advocate Letitia James, Comptroller Scott Stringer and Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., all Democrats.

Other Democrats are also being mentioned, including Borough Presidents Eric Adams of Brooklyn and Melinda Katz of Queens.

GOP Borough President James Oddo said that he can see any one of them being among those chasing City Hall in eight years. Friendly rivalries have already popped up among them, including between Diaz and Adams.

Diaz got this greeting from Oddo outside of Jody’s: “Get used to coming out here.”

Oddo told us that Diaz “has all the ingredients” to be a top-flight candidate, including his Hispanic background and the “Bronx renaissance” story that he can put before voters.

And being from an outer borough won’t hurt, Oddo said.

“I’m impressed,” Oddo said. “He will have a distinguished resume. He has all the makings of a strong mayoral candidate.”

Right back at you, said Diaz.

“Borough President Oddo is a great guy and an outstanding advocate for Staten Island, and we’re very excited to have him as a colleague and a partner,” said Diaz communications director John DeSio, a former Advance scribe. “We’re going to do some great things together with Borough President Oddo and his office.”

Ordinarily, the City Council Speaker would be included among the contenders, but Democrat Melissa Mark-Viverito is term-limited out of office in four years, putting her in an unusual spot.

“She would have to land someplace else in order to stay viable,” said Oddo, a former councilman. “She’s a talented lady.”

But, as Oddo points out, it’s not like the Speaker’s chair has been a great launching pad to the mayoralty.

The three most recent Speakers who tried, Christine Quinn, Gifford Miller and Peter Vallone, not only didn’t become mayor, none of them even won the Democratic nomination.

“It’s nearly impossible to win from that spot,” said Oddo. “You make enemies with every decision you make.”

For full article: http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2014/03/potential_2021_democratic_mayo.html

Queens-Politics received the following statement from the Cats campaign. The message read, “Just because Cats didn’t hire you for your “consulting” skills doesn’t mean you had to attack his campaign strategy. Remember there are no secrets in politics only truths backed by evidence waiting to come out.”

Wow they finally understood something…. the nature of our post. I’m so glad, but maybe they took me wrong, I like John Cats, and yes I wanted to work for him. I always felt he had the money — therefore he would be the only candidate able to defeat Bill de Blasio!

But anyone who thinks Team Cats didn’t have a flawed plan should consider professional psychiatric help. Facts are simple, they really didn’t run a good campaign. That was the impetus to author that article — my disappointment in Cats ability to run a campaign on poignant issues with boots on the ground and community leaders with the resources necessary to achieve success.

Maybe if his team would have returned phone calls, or taken the advice of people who know how to win, then we wouldn’t be having this conversation. Yes, I wanted to work for Cats, but like most people I never got a call back. I’m glad I didn’t at this point. It’s shameful when your employees don’t support you because they work and you refuse to pay timely or at all. So please take complicity, admit mistakes and take responsibility for your errors and yes, remember there are no secrets in politics only truths backed by evidence waiting to come out.

With the polls predicting a De Blasio trouncing of Joe Lhota, people are already beginning to wonder what Joe Lhota could have possibly done to improve the Republican chances on Election day. The answer may have been for him to have lost the primary….

John Catsimatidis was the biggest loser in this Election season, he had the resources to paint de Blasio as an extreme leftist and the resources to gain support in uninspired communities. Sadly, Joe Lhota can’t win even though he will make it closer than the 40 points he is currently down in the polls. Lhota is governmentally strong but politically weak. Here’s why.

Catsimatidis missed his best chance and people are shocked as to why? Catsimatidis has been running for six years, yet his campaign team was so weak. His decision never to pay his campaign workers made him enemies within his own ranks. If you’re a billionaire why would you never pay your loyal workers? The billionaire candidate had a habit of withholding paychecks from campaign staff or giving them less than the amount originally agreed upon. Multiple sources have come forward claiming they were either never paid, not paid on time, or not paid the correct amount. Now these people aren’t ordinary people, they are the higher echelon of campaign staff – the kind of people who can put together a successful ground operation, but for one reason or another these folks were left hanging in a lurch by the billionaire oil baron.

Hey Johnie Cats you blew it!

Cat’s campaign manager, Eben Bronfman, despite working on non-competitive elections with District Attorney Robert Morgenthau, was somehow hired to manage a citywide election that could have taken off in the right direction but never did because Bronfman’s strategy emphasized media outreach and press events instead of organizing boots on the ground for a grassroots GOTV operation. Even though his plan was shortsighted, he had Cats drinking the Kool-aid. This is not a joke. Cats had zero appeal on camera and needed locals to deliver his message.

Bronfman’s strategy was deeply flawed: basic field organizing was never a priority. Millions were spent on advertising and campaign signs, but the people who actually put the up the signs and get out the vote were all allegedly short-changed, put on a back-burner as if their efforts didn’t matter. And on Primary day you could tell something was clearly wrong; there were simply not enough Cats people on the ground.

Their GOTV operation was nonexistent thanks to Bronfman’s strategy. Many went to work for a candidate that would pay them.

Despite Bronfman’s ill advice, not only did Cats lose, but he managed to incur the wrath of a small army who were never paid – even though he clearly has the money. Typically after a Primary, candidates come together to support their party’s nominee. Cats could have spent some of his millions bolstering Lhota so he could campaign on the same level as de Blasio, including flooding his campaign with boots on the ground, but he didn’t – and not because he doesn’t have the money – but because most of his people are still owed a check. His inaction will cost Joe Lhota and will further place him in mayoral campaign history as the silliest and stupidest billionaire. Clearly he will never be a Mike Bloomberg.

With just seven days left, the polls might tighten up a bit, but it’s most likely Bill de Blasio will be our next Mayor.

As you all may know Queens-Politics is north Queens based even though we cover the whole borough city, state, and sometimes national news. Reporting straight from the hood, Joe Lhota is taking off like wild fire, and this is not just some political speak – just ask some of the largest voting groups who’ve they endorsed. Many individuals feel a personal connection with Joe Lhota that we have not seen in a long time. Although North Queens was Rudy country, Joe seems to have a connection with the people that we never really had with Rudy. Bloomberg, although thankfully played defense to the radical lefties who want to destroy our city, he was never really one of us.

Joe Lhota, the Bronx Bomber, has never lost his outer borough sensibility. Gifted with the ability to manage city agencies and understand the interweave of public and private sectors and comprehend how they all interrelate has made Joe special, but as he spends more time in North Queens, more and more people are realizing Joe is really one of us. Joe has a compassion to sincerely try to better the lives of all New Yorkers and a purity that says he might just pull it off. Recent polls have shown that the city is just getting to know Joe Lhota and we are confident that once the city gets to know Joe and contrasts him with the alternative, he may just be our next mayor.

New Yorkers, political insiders, political junkies, gadflies, and County kiss assess get ready to have a front row seat in one of the most exciting months in NYC political history. We all grew up watching Rocky and in that movie although based on a fictional boxer, was a metaphor for comebacks, dreams, overcoming adversity, and the little guy taking on the system. This mayoral race will surprise a lot of people. We see and feel here on the streets of North Queens, the rumblings and birth pangs of a new Renaissance of common sense pro-New York values.

Next time your on Bedford Ave in Williamsburg, and you buy a shot of liquor, give a salute to Joe Lhota and his quest to become the next mayor of NYC.

Imagine you’re a man in Wisconsin and your sweet little precious twenty one-year-old girl tells you she wants to move to NY to pursue a career in acting and writing. Chances are she will end up in either Williamsburg, Bushwick, or even Park Slope. After 20 years of Guiliani and Bloomberg and the NYC police department – you can feel safe that she resides in one of the safest urban areas in the world, but it wasn’t always like that.

Under Bill de Blasio’s former boss, David Dinkins, those communities were war zones. And if you lived in Williamsburg or Bushwick you were more likely to be killed than a soldier in Iraq. Murders rocketed to 2,000 a year. The crime surge was only stopped after the NYC police department under the direction of Rudy Guiliani and Bloomberg promoted the stop and frisk program.

De Blasio vows to cater to the radical anti-police crowd. Clearly, de Blasio is getting his public policy positions from fantasy island academic circles mixed with radical pandering politicians who don’t know a darn thing about protecting New Yorkers.

For the father of Wisconsin, thank you for trusting NY’s finest and sending your daughter to New York as the hipster community is the creative backbone of the greatest city in the world. Here in NY we are proud that creative souls from across the country and the world want to come to our communities to live, work, and to manifest their creativity whether it be in acting, cinema, writing, or the painted arts, we welcome all to NY.

And we thank Guiliani and the Bloomberg administration as well as the NYPD for providing a safe place for artists to flourish, live, and grow.

Sadly, many hipsters were not around during the Dinkins era when the very communities that they call home were among the most violent war zones in the world. Bill de Blasio, while capitalizing on the hipster subculture is the worst threat to their security.

We will make the hipsters safe and it’s through the public policy positions of Joe Lhota.

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A reader emailed this in response:

“Public safety in NYC improved because of NYPD Commissioner Bratton, who

(1) was fired by Giuliani for getting too many headlines he thought were rightfully his; and who

Congratulations to all of the candidates, whether you won or lost. It was a long hard summer for everyone, and some of you really deserve a pat on the back. I especially want to give a shout out to all of the campaign workers, volunteers, and behind the scenes folks that really made this possible. Above all else, a thank you to all of the voters.

As a Democratic town, there were resounding victories all over Queens. I don’t want to rehash what you already heard, so let’s briefly go over some results:

Bill de Blasio defeated all of his opponents and put an end to Christine Quinn’s reign in city government. A runoff election is still up in the air and is set for Oct. 1st after a recount where Bill will need to garner 40% of the vote to avoid a runoff. And runoff or not, it’s not over for Bill. In November he will still have to face off with Republican Joe Lhota, who won the Republican nomination against John Catsimatidis. A democrat has not won the mayor’s seat since David Dinkins did in 1989.

Melinda Katz defeated Peter Vallone Jr. for Queens Borough President. The machine came out strong for Katz who will still have to face Republican Aurelio Arcabascio in November. Peter ran an excellent campaign, he stood up when others sat down. I’m sure he’ll be back soon. Congratulations are in order for Melinda.

Cathy Guerreiro did not win the Public Advocate seat. I still believe she would have been an excellent P.A, her voice and thoughts on public policy were refreshing, however with the foundation planted for a solid campaign, she can make a run next time with better odds. It’s not often you win on your first try. Still too close to call, Letitia James, a City Council member from Brooklyn, will face Brooklyn Senator Daniel L. Squadron in a runoff.

Phil Ragusa defeated Sal Baccarella as the Republican State Committeeman for the 26th AD. A lot was at stake in this election and it looks like Ragusa will maintain his post and keep the power in northeast Queens. Dozens of other republican leadership races took place across town. As results come in, we’ll keep posting them.

In the 19th City Council District, Paul Vallone declared victory last night. It was a long hard battle, but Vallone won with 31%, or 2,723 votes to Austin Shafran’s 2,579 votes. A total of 98% of precincts reported leaving one precinct in College Point which did not report for some odd reason. Certainly Tony Avella must not be having a good morning, his handpicked candidate did not win. In November, Vallone will face off against Republican Dennis Saffran. It’s still a race to watch, but the first hurdle has been cleared.

In the 22nd City Council District, Costa Constantinides defeated Gus Prentzas and John Ciafone (Gus lost by one vote to Ciafone coming in third place). Congratulations to Costa and his campaign team.

Rory Lanceman also declared victory in the 24th Council District as did Ruben Wills in the 28th, Lew Simon in the 32nd, and Donovan Richards in the 31st.

Lastly, Vito Lopez is no more. Antonio Reynoso took the 34th Council District, which is mostly in Brooklyn, but includes a part of Ridgewood so it’s worth mentioning.

[Press Release] KEW GARDENS HILLS, AUGUST 20, 2013, — Orthodox Jewish community leaders from across the city announced that they will be holding a forum for Democratic candidates for Mayor of New York City.

Jewish New York Government Outreach (JNYGO or “Jaynie-Go”) is sponsoring the event on August 28, at 8:00 PM at the Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills in Queens, 150-05 70th Road, to give the candidates an opportunity to address issues vital to all New Yorkers in general, and especially matters affecting the city’s Orthodox Jewish voters in particular.

The event was planned by a committee of distinguished Jewish community leaders, from those who have held public office, to senior community activists and heads of respected institutions.

Jewish New York Government Outreach is a project uniting diverse Jewish community leaders from across New York City seeking to engage candidates for elected office on the matters of great concern to the city’s Orthodox communities. For further information, contact Yaakov Serle at (917) 549-6145.

You’ve probably heard that there will be a televised Mayoral debate on Tuesday, and I’m not invited. Many of you have called and emailed asking why. Well, here’s the truth.

ABC 7, the Daily News, and the League of Women Voters have decided to base participation on one thing and one thing only: money.

Apparently, they think you would rather hear from candidates mired in scandal, whose campaigns have been convicted of crimes, who answer to lobbyists and developers while ignoring average New Yorkers. But you and I know better, and so does The New York Times.

Today, the Times took the same bold stand that we have taken since day one: big money has no business deciding our next Mayor.

“Shame on the organizers,” they wrote, “for not standing up for Mr. Albanese. If there is room for only five candidates, then drop Mr. Weiner.”

I’ve won bigger battles before, and I plan to do it again. So let’s fight back! Contribute what you can today , then pick up the phone and give the organizers an earful:

Erick Salgado is a candidate running for Mayor. Now he may not have the name recognition as some of the other contenders, but he’s certainly got the signatures – so he’ll be on the ballot, however for some odd reason he wasn’t invited to tonight’s Mayoral slumber party in the Lincoln Housing Projects hosted by the Rev. Al Sharpton. His statement is below.

“Not being invited to tonight’s mayoral candidates’ sleepover in the Lincoln Houses, hosted by Rev. Sharpton, causes me to wonder, was there a political reason or was my name left off the “guest list” because he knows as a reverend myself I have been working with the residents of New York City’s diverse communities, including its numerous public housing projects, for 24 years? I’m certainly not insulted by not being invited, because the truth is, what will I learn in eight hours under the covers that I haven’t learned in almost a quarter of a century of helping New Yorkers, including public housing tenants? “

Dirty politics? All of us taxpayers have helped pay for Quinn’s campaign operations through the taxpayer-funded Community Outreach Unit.

Quinn is using taxpayer dollars to fund her election with a political hit team in a separate office way from all of the other council members.

Christine Quinn said that she wants to bring transparency to government, she wants a more responsive City Council and a corruption-free city government, but what she said she wants and what she does are two different things.

In her pocket, Quinn has a private tax-payer funded staff that is working behind the scenes to get her elected, the so-called Community Outreach Unit. We’re not talking about one employee making telephone calls, we’re talking a million dollars of secret staff that only do her political operations. She hired former agency and political directors and operatives from unions – people who are not responsive to anyone except for her.

Here she is getting 6-to-1 public matching funds plus taxpayer funding to pay employees to help solely with her political agenda, and none of the other council members seem to even know about this.

Meanwhile Quinn has been the queen of mean raking in the dough and spending our money with reckless abandon while council member after council member gets indicted. You know, Quinn was a council member during the time when slush funds were used to stack away pork.

All central staff council members have a role to assist each and every council member for committee assignments and daily operations, but this special hit team is used solely to fund her campaign for the Mayor of New York City. I wonder what Mike Bloomberg will have to say when he hears about this.

NYC: The only city where you can get a pizza delivery faster than a police officer thanks to Christine Quinn, mayoral hopeful.

Quinn has the power to stop cuts to the NYPD that left us vulnerable, but she hasn’t.

In the wake of the tragic events in Boston, we as New Yorkers must ask some tough questions. We must look inward and remind ourselves that the world can be a very dangerous place wrought with uncertainties. No, it is not a subject that should be politicized, but living in the greatest city in the world doesn’t necessarily mean we live in the safest city in the world and with Christine Quinn’s track record of paying lip service to our police force, we could be in for another rude awakening should she become Mayor.

As Council Speaker, Christine Quinn has virtually all control over the budget making process. According to the City Charter, the speaker has the power to turn on the fiscal faucet and turn it off with little oversight, and so far she’s used it to hang the NYPD out to dry.

In the past two years we have witnessed the number of murders rise by 13.6% while rape has increased by 32% in New York City, according to Compstat records. Meanwhile response time to crimes in progress is up 42 seconds, and the overall patrol strength actually decreased this year from 41,000 cops just a decade ago to roughly 34,500 today.

Meanwhile, as the budget cuts decimate the police force, Quinn has chosen to sit on the sidelines and pay nothing but mere lip service by pledging to rescind them.

But actions always speak louder than words. Even though Quinn was part of the budget process that made these cuts in the first place, in theory, with the snap of her fingers, the cuts can simply vanish. The Speaker of the City Council has that power, but she hasn’t done so and it’s not likely she will. Her predecessors have done it and rescued the city in the process. So how do we explain her lax approach to public safety? Or is our public safety just about getting elected?

Are we safe with Quinn in charge? There’s a lot to be uncertain about.